Less than a third of Montezuma County ballots mailed for Tuesday’s primary election had been returned as of Monday morning.

Republican, Democratic and American Constitution party primary ballots must be received by 7 p.m. Tuesday. The sole polling place for the primary election is the Montezuma County Annex Building on Main Street in downtown Cortez.

According to the county clerk’s office, about 12,000 ballots were mailed out for the primary election on Tuesday, June 24. As of 9 a.m. Monday, about 3,500 ballots had been cast.

“That’s a little lower than normal for most mail in ballot elections,” said a deputy clerk.

Described as a social event, Montezuma County Republicans plan to meet and await election results starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Shiloh’s in Cortez. Local Democrat officials confirmed that no events were scheduled. The American Constitution party’s website also had no events listed.

Montezuma County Sheriff Dennis Spruell indicated he too didn’t have a planned event. His challenger, Steve Nowlin, announced his campaign committee intended to meet Tuesday at J. Fargo’s in Cortez from 7-11 p.m.